Podcast Problems

[hpilot]

I am having a problem syncing podcasts on my X-1000 Series Walkman. I have tried two different software programs, and they both have the same problem. I want to sync the podcasts to the PODCASTS folder because it has some useful features when I do that. i.e. since many podcasts are quite long, I can stop listening to a podcast, and listen to some music, and then return to the spot I left off at to resume listening. Also it is quick to navigate to the podcast because I can use the podcast icon on the main menu. If I add the podcasts in a user defined folder, I have no problems, but I also do not have the useful featurs I just described. They are treated as just another music file. Here is the problem: When my sync program deletes an old podcast from the PODCASTS folder, the podcast section of the player crashes. When I push the podcast icon on the main menu I get an error message. If I delete the old podcasts manually using Windows Explorer, everything is fine. However, this is an extra step I do not want to have to take. As I said, if I sync the podcasts to new folder that I define, it works OK, but again, the podcasts are treated as just another song. The software I use is MediaMonkey and Salling Media Sync (a fantastic program - highly recommended!). The Sony software just does not work - it crashes every time I try to use it. I spent about an hour on the phone with SONY, and his computer was crashing just like mine. He said it was not a finished program, but the paid version works OK. I will not pay $30 for the paid version! I love the X-1000, but this is irritating.

[CrowdAds]

[Olley]

Since Podcasts have a dedicted app on the X, I doubt Sony worried much about how well it would support podcasts you wanted to sync to it from your PC. I know this doesn't help you, but have you tried just finding the RSS feed for the podcast and subscribed to it with the X? Yes, it will consume some WiFi time as it updates each podcast, but no longer than the time it takes to download them to your PC usually.

[hpilot]

Originally Posted by Olley

Since Podcasts have a dedicted app on the X, I doubt Sony worried much about how well it would support podcasts you wanted to sync to it from your PC. I know this doesn't help you, but have you tried just finding the RSS feed for the podcast and subscribed to it with the X? Yes, it will consume some WiFi time as it updates each podcast, but no longer than the time it takes to download them to your PC usually.

Yes, when I use the WiFi to subscribe and update the podcasts, it works quite well. The problem is that I subscribe to several dozen, and it takes a long time to update over WiFi. Also, the player will not automatically erase old podcasts. It is just much easier to do with my computer.

[Muka]

Originally Posted by hpilot

He said it was not a finished program, but the paid version works OK.

Hmmm.. So Sony admit their software unfinished then. I think it was written by the same culprits which where responsible for SonicStage.

The dreadful buggy podcast handling of the X was one the reasons why I returned my player for a refund a few weeks ago. All I got when trying to use Media Manager for Walkman to sync podcasts was 'Error please connect compliant software' on the player.

I also found downloading podcasts over WLAN to be painfully slow, plus I couldn't subscribe to the podcasts I normally listen to on the player itself.

[hpilot]

Originally Posted by Muka

'Error please connect compliant software'

I got the same message. Ironically, dragging and dropping the podcasts seems to work OK. Everyone loves to pile on Microsoft, but my Zune software works flawlessly! Maybe Sony could learn something...